Francesco Totti back in the spotlight

ROME – Some of AS Roma’s players were not even born when Francesco Totti made his debut for the club and the 36-year-old shows no signs of stopping after reaching another milestone in his remarkable career.

Saturday, March 09, 2013

SaturdayUdinese    vs    AS Roma    21:45Sunday    Atalanta    vs    US Pescara    13:30    Juventus    vs    Catania    16:00    Chievo    vs    NapoliCagliari    vs    SampdoriaPalermo    vs    SienaParma    vs    TorinoInter    vs    Bologna    21:45    Lazio    vs    Fiorentina ROME – Some of AS Roma’s players were not even born when Francesco Totti made his debut for the club and the 36-year-old shows no signs of stopping after reaching another milestone in his remarkable career. One of the very few one-club players in the modern game, Totti has found a second wind this season as he partners players such as Nicolas Lopez and Alessio Romagnoli, who were both born after he made his Roma debut in March 1993.There has even been talk of an Italy recall for Totti who has not played for his country since winning the 2006 World Cup.Tributes flowed for Totti after he converted a penalty against Genoa last Sunday to score his 225th Serie A goal to equal Gunnar Nordahl’s total and became joint highest all-time scorer in the league’s history. "Totti is simply a champion and, like all champions, he has unimaginable resources,” said seasoned Italian coach Fabio Capello this week."He may have lost a bit of pace, but he has made up for that with astuteness and intelligence,” said the former AC Milan, AS Roma, Real Madrid and England coach, now with Russia.TWENTY-FIRST SEASONPlaying his 21st full season, Totti has had ups and downs in recent years, partly through injury and occasionally falling out of favour with coaches such as Claudio Ranieri and Luis Enrique.Although he is not always the easiest of team mates and sullied his reputation by spitting at Denmark’s Christian Poulsen at Euro 2014, he remains an inspiration for his younger team mates and is held up as an example in Italian football."I had the good fortune to train him for a few months and that was an honour,” said Italy coach Cesare Prandelli, a man known for not tolerating bad behaviour, in December.